MADE IN ESSEX. Laura Ziepe
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pair that had only been worn a few times for a hundred pounds, complete barg. Obviously I’m trying to save money for the business, so eBay is where I’m getting all my designers at the minute, but he said he’d treat me and buy me a pair from Harrods at the weekend.’
‘That’s so cute,’ Jade gushed, secretly finding it hilarious that Kelly acted like she was trying to cut back on shopping. She seemed to buy a new designer bag every week! She was glad Billy’s business was successful though. They had spoken to him lots about his corporate hospitality company since they had started their own business and he often helped them out and gave them advice. It was starting to go really well for him and she could tell Kelly was proud when she spoke about it. It was adorable really. His business partner and friend, Gary Jacobs, hadn’t exactly been pleased when Billy had left the business which they’d been running for two years to work in Marbella for the summer. But he’d been able to cope by hiring temporary staff once he knew Billy had made his mind up about going. It was something he had needed to do and now he’d met Kelly it had definitely been the right thing, Jade acknowledged.
‘How’s Billy’s mum by the way?’
Kelly nodded her head. ‘Yeah, she’s doing well. I think things are looking up, which is good.’
Jade sighed with relief. Billy’s mum had breast cancer and had gone through chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Kelly was often worried about Billy, who was terrified his mum might die. Kelly was the only person he ever spoke to about it.
‘Would you like dessert?’ the disconsolate-looking waiter asked.
‘Yes please, babe,’ Kelly said excitedly, ‘I’ll have that frozen yoghurt thing with the chocolate straw?’
‘Sotto zero leggera?’ he asked effortlessly.
‘Yeah that’s it,’ Kelly nodded, pretending she knew the name. ‘The leggera.’
He glanced at Lisa.
She perused the menu, eyes like saucers. ‘Oh, I’ll have the chocolate glory please.’
‘I’ll go for the frozen yoghurt thingy too,’ Jade decided.
Ten minutes later their desserts had arrived.
‘This is to die for,’ Lisa exhaled, through a bite of chocolate fudge cake and ice cream.
‘Mmm, so is this,’ Kelly agreed. ‘Really refreshing.’
‘Okay, we need to ask you something,’ Jade looked at Kelly to let her know this was the moment. ‘We’re doing a photo shoot this week as we need images of the bikinis for our website. We need people to model them and we were wondering if you would?’
Lisa opened her mouth to reveal chocolate-stained teeth, making them guffaw with laughter. ‘Why have you let me eat this dessert then like a fat cow if you want me to model? I should have had the healthy yoghurt crap like you two!’
Kelly chortled, ‘Lisa, you don’t need to worry about your weight! Your figure is amazing, babe, one of the reasons we’ve asked you in the first place. Everything you put on looks incredible.’
‘Thanks,’ Lisa said with a half-smile. ‘If it helps you, then of course I’ll do it. I’d better cut down for the next few days.’
‘Great!’ Jade exclaimed happily. ‘It’ll be one night this week, maybe Tuesday, so I’ll let you know when.’
As Lisa made Kelly promise she’d do her hair and make-up for the shoot, Jade’s mind drifted as she thought about all the things they had to do that week. It was going to be busy as always, but she would definitely allocate more time to Sam. They had to make more bikinis, get the photo shoot done and then add them all to the website. There was Essex Fashion Week to prepare for too, which she believed was the week after next. If only she had her red notebook she would know for sure.
‘Anyway girls I need to go,’ Lisa said standing up. ‘Jade, I’ll see you tomorrow, about seven in the morning?’
Jade’s face creased into a puzzled frown. ‘What? Why?’
‘You’re dog-sitting Cupcake, remember?’
Oh yes, Jade thought groggily, not liking the thought of getting up early, I remember.
*
Adele cursed herself as she stubbed her finger with the needle. How could anyone be bothered to sew for a living? Seriously, it was tiring, boring and not exactly easy like she’d first thought. You needed patience, she mused, as she added yet another sequin to the plain black bikini she was practising on. Patience was something she definitely didn’t have. She wondered whether she should pay someone to do it all for her and then decided against it, wanting a bigger profit for herself with each one she sold.
Adele exhaled loudly as she finished the last one. It was a similar copy to the one in Jade’s notebook, but something didn’t look quite right. She’d bought the sequins from Hobbycraft, seeing as the other ones from the website Jade and Kelly used wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. That must be it, she told herself; when she had the right sequins the bikini would look great. It would look better on too, she decided, taking her clothes off to try it.
‘Shit!’ she cursed, when several of the sequins flew off immediately. Now she’d have to do them again, she thought, furious with herself for not being more careful. She’d have to send a letter out with every bikini purchased that the garments were very delicate and needed to be handled carefully. Then if the customers stupidly ruined them, it was their own fault. She wouldn’t allow anyone to send them back unless they were swapping sizes.
She’d already ordered a hundred bikinis from Caitlin in America, the lady who was written in the notebook. Her prices were so cheap when you bought in bulk that the girls would have made a killing. Too bad they would now have competition, Adele thought nastily. Everyone would be on her website because she’d make sure her bikinis were cheaper and looked better. She’d noticed in the notebook that the girls were hoping to use Chloe and Lisa as their models, as Jade had written their names with question marks. It was hilarious that they were using amateur models. How embarrassing? Yes, Lisa was attractive, Adele admitted reluctantly, but a model? Absolutely not. And as for Chloe, she was about as confident as a flea. They wouldn’t have a clue what to do or how to pose! She, on the other hand, had already been in touch with Skye, a professional model who had even appeared in the Ann Summers catalogues. Skye was charging three hundred and fifty pounds for the day, but everyone knew that you got what you paid for, Adele thought arrogantly. She would be worth every penny. Her images would be stunning; Skye would make a black bag look like something from the covers of Vogue. Now all she needed was to get enough bikinis ready so there were plenty to shoot. She’d decided against using the photographer Kelly and Jade were using. She’d looked at his website and yes he was good, but nothing compared to the photographer she’d found online, who had shot Madonna. Who wouldn’t choose the photographer that had shot her? She was an icon. A huge megastar. Adele’s photographer’s prices were a lot higher, but her work was flawless. It doesn’t even matter how much it costs, Adele reminded herself, you had to put money into a company to ever get some back and luckily her dad had plenty of it.
She couldn’t wait for Nicola and Lisa to move in opposite. She could just see them now, heading out to dinner when they got back from work, or going round there to watch films and for a chat. Then they could all go out at weekends together. Maybe they’d even join her in Funky Mojoe at the weekend? It would definitely beat going with just Donna who she had had to persuade to come anyway, seeing as she’d made plans for some boring aunt’s fiftieth birthday party. Adele had told Donna outright she couldn’t think of anything more pathetic than hanging out with some dried-up nobodies on a Saturday night and at this rate she would be single forever. Donna had seemed a bit put out by this comment, so Adele had changed tactic and softened a bit, telling her it was because she had a male friend that was interested in her and wanted to meet her. It was a complete lie but she knew that would change her tune. She would just conjure up some fictitious story on the night about him being ill or something